The next day was a little different. Dwalin had called all of the new caretakers into one room so that they may create a plan of action for the child-phase. Judging by the events of the other day, it would arrive much sooner than first expected.

All of the toddlers were left to play outside. Today they wouldn't need babysitters because Gandalf knew of a little trick that he hadn't shared with you yet.

Before Dwalin could kill him, you were wise enough to let some elves hold him back.

"What may that little trick be?" you asked. As much as you would like to kill him too, you could use his wisdom in the upcoming phases. After all he was an old friend of Thrain and Thror. You were sure he knew something of dwarven children.

The little trick was some kind of magical force field. It was big enough to hold eleven dwarven toddlers in it. So no one would have to babysit them for a while.

The only catch was that Gandalf wasn't sure how long the magical force field would hold up. "At least a few hours... I hope."

Dwalin decided that that was more than enough time to have the meeting.

As he explained to everyone in the room, especially to the elves, their child-fase wouldn't be too hard. All they had to do was make sure that the little ones would be distracted by some hand work.

Like making furniture or learning how to wield a sword.

The teenage fase would be the most difficult. Like he had mentioned a lot during the last few days, they were known to flee when they came of age. Not because they were unhappy but because they would have to prove their strength.

That is what the teenagers believed.

No one forced them to leave or thought any less of them.

It was common for whole families to disappear because the father would follow their child. Then the mother would follow her stubborn husband.

And sometimes the grandparents got involved as well.

It was, as you could say, a magical time amongst dwarves. Any dwarf would tell you it was the most dreaded time in a dwarves' life. Something a whole kingdom was worried about.

The young adult fase wouldn't be much better...

But they should take it one fase at at time, like Balin pointed out. All they had to do was keep the toddlers entertained and make sure that the force field would be up and running once they became teenagers.

Gandalf had approximately two and a half days left to perfect his little trick. No more and no less. He should get on that right away.

The rest of the caretakers would need some extra training. Especially the elves, that should go without saying. It was doubtful they had the strength to stop teenage dwarves from running off.

They could be quite... determined, to do what they think is the right thing to do.

It was also decided that you would keep out of it. Thorin would only have to deal with not seeing you for one and a half days. When he behaved, and only if he did, would he be allowed to see you.

You were going to protest when Dwalin explained; "It isn't uncommon for the males to leave with their One. They usually come back but don't forget Thorin's title. Don't push it lass."

In the mean time, the toddlers had no idea why they couldn't leave the field they were abandoned at...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I will destroy this!" Nori roared as he once again crawled towards the force field with his wooden axe barely raised above his head. And once again the axe fell from his grasp when it made contact with the force field.

"Let it flow" Bofur said lazily. Him, his brother and cousin were lying on the rocks. Taking in some sun. "We are not... not..."

"No grown-ups?" Bombur offered.

Bofur nodded. "Aye. More food?" Some food was thrown his way by Dori. "Food!"

Bombur almost rolled on top of him to grab a piece of meat. "Solly Bof" he said guiltily. He pushed himself off on time so that his brother wouldn't experience too much difficulty breathing.

"Is awight Bombul" the toddler said, thanking the gods above that he didn't get crushed. "Still all one?"

Dori sighed for what felt like the tenth time that morning. "Aye, alone. 'A. Lone.' No grown-ups." Why were these toddlers incapable of forming normal words? It really was beyond him.

Nori had crawled back to his two brothers, eyeing the elves behind the force field suspiciously. "They here" he whispered. "Not trust" he added later, "have loud noise."

"They play strings?" Ori offered.

Nori nodded. "Is loud an stupid." He glared at the instruments that now lay on the grass. The elves had put them aside after they noticed it aggitated the dwarves. They were told not to anger the toddlers.

Their presence, however, was already more than enough reason to anger them.

Thorin looked up to see what the fuss was about. But his attention was needed elsewhere. He was sitting against a tree stump, overseeing the game his nephews were playing.

Of all the dwarves in his company, he had the most experience with small dwarves. Granted, Bombur had a lot of children and Thorin himself had none. But the king had helped raising his brother and sister when they were young.

And then, after Dis got married, he helped taking care of his two young nephews. He helped even more the moment her husband had died. And let's be honest, Fili and Kili each count for four dwarflings by themselves. So he had more experience over all.

As their uncle he recognised the small signs that others would ignore. He knew when they were up to something.

They would first look around to see if anyone could over hear him. When they thought the coast was clear, they would start whispering to each other.

That meant that there was a plan in the making.

For now they behaved themselves. They were just playing with a wooden toy the adults had found in Kili's backpack. No one was interested enough to find out why the adult young prince had a toy with him on the quest.

The elves had enough eyes on them for now. He would keep his focus on his troublesome nephews.

And his mind on his beloved.

He felt a sting in his heart when he remembered the look on your face from the night before. Had he truly been so blind?

When he thought back to the beeks leading up to your wedding, he remembered nothing but excitement. There was so much to take care of so that everything would be perfect. Had he not done everything in his power to please you?

He had come to the conclusion that maybe he should have asked for your opinion more often. Maybe not just listen to your words but look at you more often to see if you meant what you said.

Thorin knew that he was partially to blame for your bitter memories to your most important day. Yet, on the other hand he didn't blame himself fully. Because you could have told him what the colored dress meant to your people.

Had he not asked you more then once, what you thought of your dress? If you were truly happy with it?

He sighed deeply. It was perhaps a subject that should be talked about when he could speak again.

Now he was only able to say a few things. None of them would come close to the words he wanted to say. So he had to be patient, take his time. It would also give him some time to think over what he wanted to say.

This was going to be a conversation that he needed to enter with caution. One wrong word and he could set you off again.

Perhaps your marriage was not the only thing that bothered you still. Come to think of it, Thorin had to admit that you fought a lot lately. He didn't want to, of course, but it happened anyway.

He wasn't sure what he felt. Sometimes it looked like you tried to anger him on purpose. Although he couldn't come up with a solid reason why you would do that. As far as he was concerned, your marriage was a happy and loving one.

No reason to dwell on that now. Fili and Kili needed to be watched -

Where were they?

"Fee! Kee!" he cried out. He meant to sound stern but his voice was still a little higher than he was used to. Luckily for him you weren't there to point out how cute he sounded. It got on his nerves.

The toddlers didn't answer him. Of course they didn't. They had taken the chance once they noticed their uncle wasn't watching them any longer.

Dori and Gloin immediately came crawling his way. "Was wrong?" they asked concerned.

"Fee and Kee gone" Thorin explained. He pointed at the spot they had just played at. The wooden toy was abandoned while the prisoners had escaped.

"Need to find em" Dori said determined. He lead the way to the small hill that hid another part of the field from view.

"What a plan" Gloin said, rolling his eyes. Thorin and he crawled after Dori to set to find the toddlers. None of the others needed to be looked after. They were 'grown-ups' who knew how to be responsible.

And Bifur was being watched by his cousins so they could leave for a few minutes.

"Not far" Gloin said. And he would have had a point if it were any other dwarflings. Fili and Kili however, had the amazing ability to crawl faster than any other dwarfling. They could be halfway down to Erebor for all they knew.

"Fee! Kee!" Thorin cried out again. He did try to sound stern but it just wouldn't work. He furrowed his eyebrows. "No water?" he asked concerned.

It would be something for them to accidentally drown in the only water there was to find in the small area.

Dori shook his head. "No water."

That was a relief. As long as the field was in tact there was no risk of them drowning. Only afterwards when Thorin had found them they would be at risk of drowning.

"Fee! Kee!" Gloin called out. No one answered.

They reached the top of the small hill. Now they could oversee a larger area than before. They discovered that the force field didn't go much further. It ended only a few feet away.

"Not be far" Gloin said again.

Thorin didn't pay him much attention. There was something behind one of the rocks that caught his attention.

Looking through the force field you saw the outside world as in a blur. That way none of the dwarflings were getting too distracted by the outside world. At least, that was what Gandalf was going for when he created it.

Behind the rock Thorin could see a clear patch of grass on the other side of the force field. That meant...

"Hole" Thorin whispered, thinking of all the problems his nephews could run into out there.

He didn't wait to see if Dori and Gloin followed him. If they were on the other side, they had no time to waste. Once they crawled through the hole, the sounds from outside sounded a lot clearer.

And a few steps ahead there lay Fili's stuffed bear. Thorin threw it over his shoulder and carried it with him. He didn't want to know what happened if his nephew didn't have it with him tonight.

He had made that mistake before when he was a real toddler.

"Fee! Kee!" he cried out. This time they should be able to hear him, the field wouldn't dim his voice. That was what he was hoping for anyway.

"Uncle! Danger!" came a terrified answer.

Thorin's heart froze. He crawled as fast as he could to the place he thought the cry came from. There was no time to waste. The toddler king was going so fast that he didn't watch where he was going.

Gloin grabbed the back of his trousers just in time or he would have fallen down into the water.

They were sitting on their knees on a small cliff with water rushing beneath them. To anyone else it was just a few steps to dry land but for the toddlers it looked like a high cliff.

"Uncle!" Fili yelled. Thorin looked up to see his nephew standing on a higher part of the cliff. He was pointing down where Kili was clinging to a small stone. Just a little longer and he would fall in the deep river below.

Thorin pushed Gloin's hand away and crawled towards his nephews. The stone beneath was slippery because of the water. He almost slipped and fell a few times but he managed to stay on semi dry land.

Fili moved out of the way when his uncle came near. He had tried to stop his younger brother from running off. But he couldn't possibly let him run off all on his one. he was the older one and needed to take care of his younger brother. That was his job.

Just like his uncle had done for his brother Frerin.

"Kee!" Thorin yelled. He reached out his arm so that his youngest nephew may grab it.

Kili looked up with terrified eyes. His toddler brain came up with a plan when he noticed the arm of his uncle. Maybe if he could reach it he would be able to pull himself up. So he tried to reach for his uncle's hand.

The brown haired toddler tried with all his might. His arm was just a little too small. And so was Thorin's. Gloin and Dori were already holding him back with all their might.

Just a little more over the edge and he would be in danger too.

Thorin's mind was racing. He couldn't face his sister to tell her that he had lost one of her sons. This time he wouldn't fail in protecting the ones he loved.

Something brown fell from his back and landed right next to him.

"Bear" Fili said through his tears.

Thorin grabbed it before the blonde prince could. For a moment Fili was terrified to see that his uncle threw his bear over the edge. "Uncle!" he shouted.

He hurried to the cliff, expecting to find his bear drowning in the river. What he saw was slightly different from what he expected. His brother was trying to reach for one of the bears' paws. "Get it Kee!" Fili shouted, trying to encourage his brother.

Kili's left hand, that was still holding one of the rocks, was starting to grow weak. He was tired from holding on for so long.

"Grab it!" Dori yelled to the dwarfling. He barely held on to his king's leg. Thorin had almost thrown himself completely over the edge so that Kili would have more chance of getting a hold of the bear.

Crying was the last thing on Kili's mind right now. With all his might he tried to reach the bear. As he was stretching out, his left hand slipped off of the rock.

Thorin threw some more wait to the front, reaching out a little more than before. Gloin and Dori tried to hold onto him and barely succeeded. "Can do it!" Thorin yelled before closing his eyes. He didn't want to see his nephew falling. The sound of splashing water would be enough.

More weight was put on his arms.

He dared to open one eye. Then he opened both. "Kee!" he cried out in joy.

Kili was holding on to the bear, finally crying. "Scawed!" he said through hiccups. Thorin nodded to him. "Pull!" he ordered.

The dwarves behind him didn't need more. They pulled him back to the best of their abilities. Fili tried to help too but the two other dwarves were strong enough. Instead he threw himself on top of his brother to comfort him.

"Scawy" Kili said, burrowing his face in his brothers' tunic.

Fili softly patted his back. "Is awight Kee, uncle here."

"Thorin!" The king was suddenly raised into the air and pulled into a comfortable hug. "I was so scared when I couldn't find you with the others. What were you doing here?" you said, trying to hold back your tears.

Thorin softly pulled on a loose strand of hair that softly grazed his cheek. "Awight. Kee gone" he tried to explain. From the corner of his eye he saw Dwalin picking up his nephews and Balin looking after Gloin and Dori. Everything was alright now.

"Don't ever do that again. What would I do without you?" You held his tiny hand in yours. "You mean the world to me Thorin. Don't ever forget that."

It was the first time that he saw this much love in your eyes. Or that he heard it this clearly in your voice. And the first time he allowed himself to feel the full weight of your words.